1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a door of automobile, and more particularly to trim members for tailgate of automobile adapted to prevent an overlapped portion in a plurality of trim members mounted at a rear side of a tailgate from getting loose, thereby improving a mountability of the trim members.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, a tailgate 10 mounted at a rear end of an automobile body to be opened and closed for accommodation of various articles is hinged at an upper end thereof to a rear tip portion of a roof panel 2 of the automobile body 1 as illustrated in FIG. 1, where the tailgate 10 is so structured as to be opened and closed when pivoted relative to the roof panel 2.
The tailgate 10 is also mounted at a rear periphery thereof with a plurality of trim members 12 as shown in FIG. 2. The trim member 12 includes an upper trim member 12a assembled to an upper rear portion of the tailgate 10, a lateral trim member 12b assembled to both rear lateral sides of the tailgate 10 and a lower trim member 12c assembled to rear lower portion of the tailgate 10.
Meanwhile, the trim member comprising the upper trim member 12, lateral trim member 12b and lower trim member 12c is secured to a rear surface of the tailgate 10 via a plurality of spring clips 14 as illustrated in FIG. 3 where a coupling structure between the upper trim member 12a and the spring clips 14 is depicted in FIG. 4 for illustrating a section taken along line A--A of FIG. 3.
In other words, a protruder 17 is secured to a rear surface of inner panel 11 of the tailgate 10 via the spring clips 14, where the protruder 17 is integrally formed on reinforcing ribs 16 integrally formed to provide a reinforced structural strength to a rear surface of the upper trim member 12a.
The structure where the protruder 17 of the reinforcing ribs 16 integrally formed at the rear surface of the trim member 12 is secured at the rear surface of the inner panel 11 of the tailgate 10 via the spring clips applies to other members including the upper trim member 12, lateral trim member 12b and the lower trim member 12c in the same coupling fashion.
The protroduer 17 formed on each rear surface of the upper trim of member 12a and the lateral trim member 12b is firmly secured to the inner panel of the tailgate 10 while adjacent portions are overlapped by the upper trim member 12a and the lateral trim member 12b with a predetermined length as show in FIG. 5 for illustrating a section taken along line B-B of FIG. 3.
However, there is a problem in the mounting structure of trim members for tailgate of automobile according to the prior art thus described in that an upper tip end portion of the lateral trim member 12b can hardly receive a supporting force in a structure where adjacent portions are overlapped by the upper trim member 12a and the lateral trim member 12b (in other words, in a case there both tip end portions of the upper trim member 12a are overlapped inwardly into a tip end portion of the lateral trim member 12b), such that the upper tip end portion of the lateral trim member 12b is drooped by its own weight to thereby be deformed (see dotted lines in FIG. 5).
There is another problem in that, when the trim member 12 mounted into the tailgate 10 is drooped to be deformed, external appearance is deteriorated and noise called rattle noise is generated while an automobile is running.